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Books on Growing Healthy Fruit: Holistic Orchard Networkwith Michael Phillips Retail Price $49.95 Network Special $40 Running Time 5 hours Every farm and homestead can enjoy the timeless pleasure of a fruit orchard. You do this by emphasizing biological health and diversity -- from the microscopic fungi in the soil to the beneficial insects, companion plants, and wildlife that together form a complete and living orchard ecosystem.Viburnum prunifolium Stagberry, Black Haw, Hybrid blackhaw, Smooth Blackhaw, Blackhaw Viburnum PFAF Plant DatabasePlants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally. Abortifacient; Anodyne; Antispasmodic; Astringent; Birthing aid; Nervine; Sedative. Stagberry was used by the North American Indians to treat dysentery and to arrest haemorrhage of the uterus[254, 257]. It is now considered to be a specific treatment for the relief of menstrual pain - the bark contains 'scopoletin', a coumarin that has a sedative affect on the uterus and salicin, a painkiller that is used in making aspirin[238, 254].

Fukuoka's Food ForestMandarin orange, a main crop of Fukuoka’s food forest. At one time he was shipping an impressive 90 tons of citrus fruit annually Many of us in the permaculture and organic movements have read Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka’s One Straw Revolution, which lays out his ingenious (though hard to replicate) no-till organic rice production system. I was surprised and pleased when, in my job as librarian for the New England Small Farm Institute in the late 1990s, I stumbled on his Natural Way of Farming, a translation of his 1976 book Shizen Noho.UW ext. Uncommon FruitHistory and background Dormant jostaberry Jostaberry is a complex ribes hybrid of the European currant (Ribes nigrum) and gooseberry (Ribes sup). The attempt to capture the best qualities of both species in one plant dates back to 1883, but it wasn’t until 1977 that the first cultivar was made available to the public. The long delay between conception and success was due to a mule sterility problem (good plant growth, lots of flowers, but no fruit set) that was eventually overcome with a chemical treatment.

Can you Restore Land and Produce Food in the Same Place?Five Ways to Help the Natural World by Growing Food We are going to continue to restore the land at Whaelghinbran Farm by growing more food there. We are going to think carefully about how, when, where and why we grow food so that our food system will benefit many of the wild plants and animals that are losing places to live and prosper in New Brunswick. To do this we are designing a Restoration Orchard - an orchard that produces local food and also clearly benefits the natural environment at the same time. First though, can you really restore land?Quinces Cornell UniversityQuinces are small, irregularly shaped trees growing to about 15 feet tall that are often used as rootstock for dwarf pears. They bear white or pink showy flowers at the ends of leafy shoots in spring. The flowers are susceptible to winter injury at temperatures below about -15° F, but trees are hardy in Zones 5 to 9.

Regenerative EnterpriseSustainable is not enough. AppleSeed designer Ethan Roland takes permaculture to the next level with his recent book Regenerative Enterprise: Optimizing for Multi-Capital Abundance. The book begins by exploring the revolutionary 8 Forms of Capital economic framework: The book defines degeneration and regeneration, explores the role of social entrepreneurship in ecological restoration, and offers clear principles for the development of innovative enterprise ecologies. Learn more and buy the book at 8Forms.org

Beach plum, sand cherry Cornell UniversityBeach plums are stone fruits, related to other plums, cherries and peaches. Plants grow 4 to 10 feet tall and produce a profusion of white or pink flowers in mid-May, later than most other stone fruits. The half- to one-inch-diameter fruits ripen in late summer and are generally reddish to deep purple with a waxy bloom. They are quite acid with a crisp, tart, juicy flesh and cherry-like pit, and can be substituted for cherries or plums in recipes.How One Man Revolutionized the Farming World Masanabu FukuokaMasanobu Fukuoka may be one of the most farsighted and downright radical farmers to have ever lived! Why? Because over the past 30 years, he gradually abandoned most conventional agricultural practices in order to return control of his land to the most skilled grower of all ... Nature herself! In return — he claimed — he has reaped both bumper crops and a peace that surpasses understanding. On August 16, 2008 Masanobu died, but not without leaving behind some of the most important farming lessons known.

Cornelian cherry, Cornell UniversityThis small, upright to spreading, 15- to 20-foot-tall tree bears small yellow flowers very early (in late winter or early spring) before leaves develop. Flower buds are conspicuous and attractive in winter, and the bark is flaky, exfoliating and gray-brown to brown. Foliage turns purplish-red in fall. The fruits, about the size and shape of a medium-sized olive, ripen to a dark reddish-maroon in late summer.

Incorporating biomimicry into building designMatthew Webb, Umow Lai | In the past 20 years there have been number of initiatives across a range of technologies that have demonstrated the potential of biomimicry to significantly improve human designs and challenge conventional thinking. Commercially available products include the StoCoat Lotusan self-cleaning surface coatings and Viridian Renew self-cleaning glass, which mimic the cleaning effect intrinsic to lotus leaves and insect wings.